How do I audit my promotion plan?

Auditing your promotion plan highlights areas of strengths and weaknesses for you to enhance your plan to achieve greater results.

Read through the following questions for a guide on the areas that your audit should address.

• What are the objectives of your promotion plan? Are these objectives aligned with the marketing objectives of your company?
• Do you have the right promotion mix to reach your target customers?
• Are you reaching out to your target customers effectively?
• How do you measure the results of your promotion plan to enhance it further?

Remember
Your promotion plan is part of your company’s overall marketing plan. The objectives of the promotion plan must be aligned with the marketing objectives which in turn must be aligned with the overall business objectives of your company.

ONE

Check promotion objectives.

Determine if the objectives of your promotion plan are aligned with your company’s marketing objectives. For example, if your marketing objective is to increase sales by 20%, then you may consider setting one of your promotional objectives as increasing enquiry level by 10% to generate more sales leads.

TWO

Check if message is received by customers.

Check whether your company’s message has reached your target customers through the different promotion components.

Tip

Tracking Response Rates
Knowing which promotion method has been most effective in reaching your intended target market will help you plan more effectively in future.

Find a way of tracking which channels customers are responding to by using different promotion codes or email addresses to receive responses or simply ask your customers directly. You can also gather insights by comparing the response rates before, during and after campaigns.

THREE

Check effectiveness of promotional mix.

Each promotion component has a distinct function. To achieve the most desirable results, you can blend various types of promotion components so that you create a complementary effect that works well together.

First, examine the types of promotion being used to convey messages to your target market. Is it catered to your target customers’ profile and needs? What is the frequency of exposure?

Next, examine the effectiveness of each type of promotion based on cost, circulation, market penetration. Compare against past performance to track the trend and help you determine if you should continue to use this method.

FOUR

Measure and evaluate your plan.

After implementing your promotion plan, it is time to evaluate the return on your investment (ROI). Evaluate the performance of the campaigns you have run over the last year, including the types of promotion, frequency, timing and response rates. Determine the impact of these activities on your profit margin. The difference between your profit margin and your investment on promotions will be your ROI. Remember that you will also need to constantly train and evaluate the staff in charge of crafting your promotion plan and executing the promotional activities.

The following shows an example of how to draw up a promotion plan.

Case Study 1
An organisation offers human resource software solutions to enterprises. The software can be customised to suit the individual customer in terms of management of HR information, recruitment, staff retention, succession planning and others. The cost of the software ranges from $20,000 to $100,000 or more depending on the customisation needs.  

The marketing objective is to increase sales by 10%. The promotion mix chosen to attain this objective includes email, direct mail, free workshop, and sales force. The marketing manager has planned to blast emails to their database of customers, with messages that address their target customers’ needs and requirements. The email includes a form to collect information on the first time sales lead. Once responses from sales leads are received, a personalised direct mail will be sent to invite them to attend a free workshop. After the workshop, two sales personnel will be responsible to follow up with the prospects and to close sales.

This case study is shown on the Sample Promotion Plan on the next page. 

Tip

Google AdWords
You can use conversion tracking to identify the advertisements that are bringing you sales leads. You can also identify keywords and advertisements that are receiving untargeted clicks and check if your ads are driving users to your website. This will help you increase possible returns on your advertising investment.

Web Analytics
Ask your web host for visitor statistics about your website. You can also use free tools by Google or Yahoo. You get useful information such as how people found your site and how they explored it. Read Digital Marketing for more details.

Sample of promotion plan (Case Study)